Harlem Sewage Plant Can't Handle Trump's Riverside South

Published: February 16, 1995

To the Editor:

As one who thinks that the developer Donald Trump's project Riverside South is a grotesquerie against common sense and our common space in this city, I was dismayed to read that New York City granted him a permit to hook up four buildings to the North River sewage treatment plant in Harlem.

That the permit was granted despite overwhelming evidence that the sewer plant cannot handle additional sewage from this massive project is outrageous but not unexpected. I understand that Mr. Trump needed this permit in order to file an application for a $350 million Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance guarantee for the four buildings.

Strenuous objections voiced by all the West Side's elected officials, the Coalition for a Livable West Side, the North River Community Environmental Review Board, Community Boards 7 and 9, the Harlem community and even the Natural Resources Defense Council, which is a member of Mr. Trump's Riverside South Planning Corporation, fell on deaf ears.

The objections to a sewer hookup were based on a careful examination of the data presented by the city. There is no capacity in the North River plant for additional hookups and no basis to believe that capacity will be available in the future.

I am most curious as to why the city isn't investigating the mysterious, sudden drop of 24 million gallons a day of raw sewage. Are millions of gallons of untreated sewage being dumped into the Hudson River?

Your Feb. 4 news article states, "With the certification, Mr. Trump clears a major hurdle in his long struggle to construct." That may not be accurate. The Coalition for a Livable West Side and other community environmental groups filed a lawsuit in 1993 in Federal court under the Clean Water Act. The lawsuit specifically cited the North River sewage treatment plant as operating above its permit capacity, thereby dumping millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Hudson River. That case has not been heard yet.

In addition, the same groups recently filed a 60-day notice to sue the city under the Clean Water Act to force the city to investigate the sudden daily drop in flow (24 million gallons).

The city has erred. It must rescind the permit allowing Mr. Trump to hook up to the North River plant. Only an independent, thorough analysis can determine the North River sewer plant's capacity to handle additional sewer hookups and their impact on the terrible odor visited on residents who live near the plant. BILL MOYERS New York, Feb. 10, 1995